Hours after controversial judge goes on leave, SC collegium picks replacement

The development comes days after letters by Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant became public. In his letters sent to the CJI — on August 2, August 10 and August 17 — and copied to other members of the Supreme Court Collegium, Justice Mehta accused Justice Sharma of “misuse of powers” and said he had received “several complaints”, which “raise doubts” on the Acting CJ’s “integrity”. Based on this, Justice Mehta also sought transfer of the acting CJ to another High Court and the appointment of a new Chief Justice.

The examination of the allegations against Justice Sharma, the Collegium discussed, could also include looking into some of his orders that have been reportedly flagged in the complaint. There is also a view within the Collegium to tread cautiously given Justice Sharma is anyway due to retire on 26 September.

Apart from CJI Kant, the Collegium comprises Justices Vikram Nath, M M Sundresh, B V Nagarathna and P S Narasimha.

As per the updated roster for the Jaipur Bench, Justice Sharma will not be holding any sitting from September 1 to September 5.

Earlier in the day, Rajasthan HC witnessed unprecedented scenes with lawyers’ associations escalating their protests against Justice Sharma.

In Jaipur, a section of lawyers sat outside his court, while in Jodhpur, both lawyers’ associations announced a strike till Sunday and demanded that Justice Sharma be relieved of judicial and administrative duties.

Meanwhile, the SC Collegium also recommended Justice Alpesh Yeshvant Kogje, a judge at the Gujarat High Court, as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh HC. With these three new names, seven recommendations for appointment as Chief Justices will be pending before the government.